The Angel of Death
by Blade of Justice
Summary: An attempt to make a radical change in the new timeline leads to a strange encounter between an angry Homura and a tired Kyousuke in the middle of the night, one Homura is sure not to forget any time soon.


Sneaking into the hospital had been a fairly easy task for Akemi Homura. She had broken into far more secure facilities when she had still been the definition of weak, after all.

The last world had been a complete and utter disaster. It wasn't a surprise, but defeat still hurt all the same. The source of Homura's failure?

Miki Sayaka.

The details didn't matter. They changed from world to world enough that the specifics were, ultimately, unimportant. What mattered was that it was almost becoming a rule of things that, inevitably, Miki Sayaka's fall into despair would set off a chain reaction which would destroy everything that Homura was working towards. Every single time.

So this time, Homura thought, why not take action first? Why not snuff out the source of Miki Sayaka's despair before it became an issue in the first place?

It was a truly mad plan. She hadn't thought it out and she had no intention of doing so. Perhaps deep down, she knew that part of her was doing this as a twisted way to get back at Miki Sayaka. As if this one experiment would make up for the countless times Miki Sayaka drove the very world to despair. And if this world happened to be the world in which Madoka didn't form a contract, then things would be all the better for it.

And this is how Homura found herself breaking into the hospital room of a sleeping young man, removing a pistol from her shield, and pointing it at the young man square between the eyes.

It wasn't as if she'd never had to shoot someone before. She'd shot the most important person in her life, as a matter of fact. She'd even shot Miki Sayaka herself once or twice. What was a stranger - a stranger that constantly caused so many problems at that? Miki Sayaka would certainly be better off, and as she was fairly certain that Incubators couldn't revive the dead, it would mean that the blue haired fool likely wouldn't form a contract either - which in turn would mean Sakura Kyouko wouldn't end up wasting her life in her foolish double suicide, which would ultimately mean that Homura would have an ally to fight the Lord of Witches. With Miki Sayaka out of the picture before the film even began, she might even be able to keep Tomoe Mami alive to the end as well.

By her reasoning, she had no reason to not shoot him and every reason to do it. She wouldn't get caught and if it turned out that things didn't work out, she'd just know for next time that this was a plan that ended in failure. No harm, no foul.

So why couldn't she pull the trigger?

"I didn't think the Angel of Death would take their time like this. Are you new at this, perhaps?"

Homura gasped, nearly dropping her weapon.

_He was awake!_

Her hands began to tremble as her target's eyes opened up and peered at her sleepily. The boy didn't seem alarmed. In fact, he looked more... tired than anything.

"A-Angel of Death?" Homura had planned on keeping her cool and simply walking out of here, but things had changed drastically now that Kamijou Kyousuke had awoken - with him, so had Homura's conscience. "What are you on about?"

_You were about to _murder_ someone! _

_This isn't some Puella Magi that was getting in the way!_

_This isn't an enemy that was going to drive Madoka to despair! _

_You just wanted to make yourself feel better!_

_You just wanted to get revenge against a girl who hasn't even done anything yet!_

_You're the worst! Even worse than that!_

_Madoka would be ashamed of you!_

"Am I wrong?" The boy was either pretending to be innocent about all of this, or he just truly wanted to die. Perhaps, seeing how tired he looked - much more tired than from simply being woken up in the middle of the night - it was both. "Are you not here to bring an end to me?"

"I..." Homura withdrew, dropping the hand holding the pistol to her side. Still shaking, she tried to collect herself - but the boy in the hospital bed seemed to have no desire to let her off the hook just yet. Not that she could very well blame him.

"If you're going to go to the trouble of breaking into the best hospital in the city, with a loaded gun at that, you should probably have the resolve for what you're going to do when you get there," the boy informed her as-a-matter-of-factly. Homura couldn't believe him. Did he have a death wish?

"Do you _want_ to die?!" Any pretense of keeping her cool was lost at this point. Her mind was still reeling from what she had been about to do, as images of Madoka's face - ashamed, disappointed, disgusted - flashed through her mind.

"Maybe," Kamijou Kyousuke's response was honest. He gave Homura a sad smile. Homura was visibly shaken by the expression he wore - it was one she herself had often wore when she had been locked up in the hospital. He truly didn't really care one way or the other. "My life is pretty much over, the way I see it. So long as my hands are like this... What's ending it now or later going to change? You'll just be saving me a lot of heartache by finishing me off now."

Homura inhaled sharply.

If Madoka had been the one giving off this kind of aura, saying these kinds of things... Homura knew - she just knew - that she would do anything to make the girl happy again.

No wonder Miki Sayaka made the wish every damn time. Could Homura really blame her?

Homura took a deep breath, returning the pistol to her shield and attempting to regain her cool. She had come here on some petty quest for revenge, she could at least admit that to herself now, and yet here she was sympathizing with the object of her anger? She had known this plan could backfire on her, but not like this.

"I definitely won't kill you, but I'm sorely tempted to slap you for having that kind of attitude when there are so many people out there who would miss you, but..." Homura paused. She bit her lip, glancing away from the bedridden boy's gaze. She thought of Miki Sayaka, wishing more than anything for him to be happy. She thought of Madoka, and what she would be like if it were Madoka in this bed, feeling this way. "That would make me something of a hypocrite - and there are people far more deserving of hearing that."

The boy let out a wistful sigh.

"Then if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to sleep. You got in here well enough, I assume you can let yourself out?"

"Gladly."

Homura turned sharply and made her exit.

She may not have changed anything, but she had definitely learned something tonight.


End file.
